His retained sex drive overran as he sensed Liv’s scent and breath from close proximity. Nevertheless, he didn’t bother to address it. His whole body had sensed danger, putting him on edge.

His survival instinct suppressed his sex drive and ran amok. He knew in his mind that nothing could put him in danger here, but the instinct that had been keeping him alive continued to warn him.

So, he didn’t want to touch her now. He felt like she was the source of this danger signal.

Strange, it was.

***

When she opened her eyes in the morning, Liv was alone in bed.

She had expected she wouldn’t be able to sleep because she was so nervous, but once she lay down, she slept soundly, not realizing that the man next to her had left.

Liv sat up, looking somewhat gloomily at the seat next to her, which had long since gone cold and hardly looked like someone had laid down in the first place.

Still, this was Lanxess Manor, so she expected she would be able to have breakfast with the Marquis. However, all she heard was that the Marquis had gone out early in the morning.

In the end, she turned down Philip’s invitation to have breakfast, citing that Coryda would be worried, and returned home.

And as soon as Liv opened the door, she faced an unexpected guest.

“Teacher!”

“Liv!”

Sitting alongside Coryda, teacup in hand, was Millian. As Liv paused in the doorway, both girls rushed in, took her by the arms and pulled her into a chair at the table. They then sat down across from her, their faces as solemn as if they were officers about to interrogate her.

There was no time for her to ask why Millian was here, and why she was so in sync with Coryda.

“Dear~ Tea~cher~, I heard ve~ry strange news.”

Millian, cupping her face with both hands like a flower, narrowed her eyes as she faced Liv. Next to her, Coryda also narrowed her eyes and spoke in a mischievous voice.

“Dear~ Sister~, I heard a ve~ry strange word from Millian.”

Since when did you get to call Millian by name?

Speechless, Liv looked back and forth between Millian and Coryda, then sighed in frustration. She could easily see what the two girls were trying to say, even if she didn’t want to. There was no point in trying to look away and pretend she didn’t know.

Liv decided to face Millian calmly first. No matter how urgent Millian had been, Liv had to point things out before moving on.

“Didn’t I tell you it’s not polite to visit people in their homes unannounced, Millian?”

There was no use in teaching her fervently. She had to practice it in life for her to learn it properly.

At the sight of Liv looking at her like she was ready to open up the etiquette textbook right then and there, Millian wore a frustrated look.

“I know! But how could I wait for that?”

“How urgent is it that you can’t even wait to send an errand boy?”

“Are you asking how urgent it is? Is there anything more urgent than this?”

“What could be more urgent than the fact I have realized my lessons didn’t work at all?”

Hearing that, Millian, sitting, hit her chest and stomped her foot.

“Argh, Teacher! Are you really going to act like this? This is about Marquis Dietrion!”

She had suspected it, but the word had indeed spread wide overnight. She was scared to hear about how far it must have spread.

As Liv showed signs of hesitation, Millian had her eyes gleam and leaned her upper body forward.

“Is it true?”

“I don’t know of what you’ve heard—”

“I heard that Marquis Dietrion is experiencing the love of the century!”

Oh dear, would it even be possible to correct that nonsense? Feeling at a loss, Liv replied in a composed tone.

“… I owe him a favor.”

“Kyaa, are you really in love?”

“Millian, it’s not love, but favor.”

Fortunately, Millian didn’t seem to be jealous of Liv’s involvement with the Marquis. Instead, she was too busy squealing that the love story she’d only read about in books was unfolding before her eyes.

Liv tried her best to bring Millian’s pink fantasies down to earth, but Millian wasn’t listening at all.

And Millian wasn’t the sole person swept up in this excitement.

“Liv, are you really in that kind of relationship with such a big person? Oh my God!”

“It’s a bit complicated, Coryda. It’s—”

“Kyaa! What should I do!”

“Liv, that’s cool! How did you two meet? Did you fall for him at first glance?”

“No, that’s—”

“We don’t have time to do this. You should be getting a writer! You should leave it in a novel!”

“How romantic!”

“… You two, please, can’t you give me time to speak?”